A major college admissions test was just canceled 'in an entire country' for the first time

The ACT college examination was canceled in South Korea and Hong Kong, China last weekend due to suspected cheating, The New York Times reported.

“ACT received credible evidence of the breach on Friday, June 10, and made the decision to cancel the test centres soon after,” Edward R. Colby, a spokesman for ACT, told The Times.

“This is the first known cancellation of an ACT test administration in an entire country,” he continued.

The breach, related to leaked testing materials, impacted 5,500 students at 56 test centres in the two countries, according to The Times. The test was canceled mere hours before students were set to take the exam.

The ACT acknowledged that this will impact students who were currently under college admissions deadlines.

“If you are facing college application deadlines, you may provide a copy of this message to colleges to which you applied as verification that you were registered for the June 11, 2016, test date,” The ACT said in a statement, which was printed in full by The Washington Post.

Read the full ACT statement below:

To: All examinees registered to take the June 11, 2016, ACT in South Korea and Hong Kong

This letter serves to inform you that ACT is cancelling the June 11, 2016, administration of the ACT test at all test centres in South Korea and Hong Kong. ACT has just received credible evidence that test materials intended for administration in these regions have been compromised. Accordingly, ACT took the difficult but appropriate step of cancelling the test event to ensure the fairness of the exam for all examinees.

The June 11 test date will not be rescheduled. Please do not report to the test center or contact the school. ACT will issue an automatic refund of your June registration fees. If you would like to test on a future ACT test date, registration for the 2016/2017 test dates will open the week of June 20th.

If you are facing college application deadlines, you may provide a copy of this message to colleges to which you applied as verification that you were registered for the June 11, 2016, test date.

We deeply regret that you are affected by this unfortunate situation and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience it may cause you. Please direct any questions concerning your registration or the information in this message to [email protected]Thank you,ACT Test Administration